Replacing a knackered kitchen before selling...

Albermarle

Is the kitchen actually usable? Could you still cook a meal, wash up, have some storage space etc ? If so then at least someone moving in could use it, until they refurbished.

NameUnavailable

Look at other ways to maybe freshen it up without spending too much money. Some people remove doors and have open cupboards, or fit cloth 'curtains' as doors.

If the carcasses are OK you can just fit new doors and worktops without having to replace the lot. Tiles can be painted and a new lino floor is relatively cheap and easy to fit.

RHemmings

NameUnavailable said:

Look at other ways to maybe freshen it up without spending too much money. Some people remove doors and have open cupboards, or fit cloth 'curtains' as doors.

If the carcasses are OK you can just fit new doors and worktops without having to replace the lot. Tiles can be painted and a new lino floor is relatively cheap and easy to fit.

I've seen those replacement doors on ebay, and some are really cheap. Worried about the quality though. 

I was surprised how little the cheapest worktops cost. And I was surprised how much high quality worktops cost. 

Slinky

We bought a couple of doors, and some sheet vinyl from https://kitchenandbedroomdoors.co.uk to use on a new vanity unit in our shower room as we wanted light blue and nothing else was available elsewhere. The doors weren't expensive and the quality has been fine.

I wouldn't bother upgrading the kitchen, I'd make sure the agents describe it as 'kitchen requiring modernisaton' in the details, in order to head off the lowball offers because of people saying the kitchen will need replacing.

Smalltownhypocrite

I really wouldn't replace a whole kitchen... we planned to rip the kitchen out when looking because 90% of them we hated.

I think a little bit of sprucing could go a long way though, you could 'wrap' the doors or replace them if the floors really bad (cracked and missing tiles, ripped carpet etc...) then replacing it with a cheap carpet or lino might help. I wouldn't bother ripping out and replacing the whole carcasses and retiling or anything though.

markin

Is it every door or just steam damage around the cooker, kettle, sink, dishwasher? If you did replace the doors would it be fine for a ftb for 10 years? 

Bigphil1474

OP, we tarted our very old kitchen up before we went on the market. It actually looks quite nice. It's not fooled anyone (not our intention) but it does mean it's serviceable if someone doesn't want the hassle of replacing it, but also could be replaced with no big loss. The cost of the refurb was in the region of £250 and a chunk of my time. Like others have said, if the doors are actually blown and there are holes in the floor, I'd deal with that, but otherwise leave it to the marketing. Hopefully you mean holes in the floor covering - we had those and a new lino covering wasn't expensive.

silvercar

I’d do whatever necessary to move it into the category where people say they could live with it for a while rather than needing an immediate refurb.

dander

I bought replacement doors for my kitchen last year (co-incidentally from the place linked above) and was very impressed with the quality - they actually feel better than the original doors (which to be fair were only B&Q). I think they were about £25 each, so it was a few hundred to redo the whole kitchen. Didn't do it intending to sell, but I have just sold and the estate agent commented that the kitchen was in very good condition, whereas in reality the units were here when I moved in nearly 20 years ago and then worktop was replaced over 10 years ago. It's at least the 3rd set of doors these units have had! I reused the existing hinges and knobs. 

In your position, if the rest of the house is in decent condition, I'd be tempted to whack some basic white shaker doors on and a bit of basic vinyl flooring, and just make sure the room is spotlessly clean. If the whole house is more of a doer-upper, I'd just leave as is.

DullGreyGuy

Generally people underestimate the cost and so the markdown in price will be less than the cost of replacing it as long as it's roughly serviceable. You may lose a few buyers who want somewhere they can just walk into and not have to touch anything but others will actively look for properties they can "add value" to 

It does somewhat depend on the overall sales pitch of the place... on the basis of holes in the flooring etc I am guessing you aren't marketing it as an Executive Penthouse or anything else to imply its top tier luxury living.